Aligned with socio-constructivist views of learning, small groups are being adopted as a viable and valid instructional technique with increasing enthusiasm. Previous research has shown that learning outcomes for students who have participated in small groups is inconsistent at best, and that small groups function differently even when working on identical tasks within the same classroom. Consequently, researchers continue to try and tease apart the ways in which effective small groups function and how small group participation influences individual learning. In this study, I explored the nature of listening within a small group learning context with the purposes of understanding how listening behaviors in the group were related to individual learning outcomes and gaining further insights into small group functions. This qualitative study was embedded within a college level history course for which the instructor had assigned students to permanent teams diverse in terms of gender, degree major, and class rank (i.e., freshman to senior status). Data collection and analysis focused on a subset of these teams and centered on group discussions that took place across two class days just past the semester’s midpoint. Data sources included: observational field notes, individual interviews, individually-written essays, synchronized audio/video recordings of team discussions, and team activity sheets. Data analysis was progressive, inductive, and micro-analytical in nature, using discourse analysis of the discussions and topic analysis of the essays to derive themes and code ideas. As indicated by individual interviews as well as an analysis of what individuals said and did during the small group discussion, listening indicators included verbal and nonverbal responses. A systematic analysis of the individually-written essays alongside a coded transcript of the team discussion revealed that topics included in the essay were ideas discussed by the group and were aligned with indicators of listening. Analyses of all data showed that listening contributes to the way the groups functioned, helping to explain the differences in team interactions. / text

"This thesis presents learning and interaction algorithms to support a human teaching hierarchical task models to a robot using a single or multiple examples in the context of a mixed-initiative interaction with bi-directional communication. Our first contribution is an approach for learning a high level task from a single example using the bottom-up style. In particular, we have identified and implemented two important heuristics for suggesting task groupings and repetitions based on the data flow between tasks and on the physical structure of the manipulated artifact. We have evaluated our heuristics with users in a simulated environment and shown that the suggestions significantly improve the learning and interaction. For our second contribution, we extended this interaction by enabling users to teaching tasks using the top-down teaching style in addition to the bottom-up teaching style. Results obtained in a pilot study show that users utilize both the bottom-up and the top-down teaching styles to teach tasks. Our third contribution is an algorithm that merges multiple examples when there are alternative ways of doing a task. The merging algorithm is still under evaluation. "

Turn-taking is a fundamental process that governs social interaction. When humans interact, they naturally take initiative and relinquish control to each other using verbal and nonverbal behavior in a coordinated manner. In contrast, existing approaches for controlling a robot's social behavior do not explicitly model turn-taking, resulting in interaction breakdowns that confuse or frustrate the human and detract from the dyad's cooperative goals. They also lack generality, relying on scripted behavior control that must be designed for each new domain. This thesis seeks to enable robots to cooperate fluently with humans by automatically controlling the timing of multimodal turn-taking. Based on our empirical studies of interaction phenomena, we develop a computational turn-taking model that accounts for multimodal information flow and resource usage in interaction. This model is implemented within a novel behavior generation architecture called CADENCE, the Control Architecture for the Dynamics of Embodied Natural Coordination and Engagement, that controls a robot's speech, gesture, gaze, and manipulation. CADENCE controls turn-taking using a timed Petri net (TPN) representation that integrates resource exchange, interruptible modality execution, and modeling of the human user. We demonstrate progressive developments of CADENCE through multiple domains of autonomous interaction encompassing situated dialogue and collaborative manipulation. We also iteratively evaluate improvements in the system using quantitative metrics of task success, fluency, and balance of control.

Extensive questions have been asked regarding the factors that influence psychotherapeutic effectiveness. Past research has addressed the methods, techniques, as well as the client and therapist variables which potentially influence psychotherapeutic effectiveness. The majority of the research indicates that the therapeutic relationship and other contextual variables exert the greatest influence on psychotherapy successes. This implicates the broader social context in psychotherapy processes. Language appears to be one of the primary contextual factors influencing psychotherapeutic processes and is also embedded in social discourse. Society dominant discourses appear to be based on deficit beliefs toward psychotherapy and emotional functioning. The more relevant issue concerning psychotherapeutic effectiveness therefore appears to be society's dominant discourses affecting the profession. Collaborative social discourses embracing psychology are seldom integrated into mainstream public discourse. A post-modern, ecosystemic perspective is applied to these concerns, proposing a collaborative approach to social discourse, psychotherapy and research. This utilizes reflective, multi-dimensional, respectful and nonjudgmental values, reflecting the shift in social paradigms from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Age. This shift recognizes that cultural, social and language variables appear to have a greater impact on psychotherapeutic effectiveness than most therapeutic techniques or interventions. These discourses are explored and recommendations are made in an attempt to align psychotherapy with a shifting social paradigm. This alignment could enhance psychotherapeutic effectiveness and the general understanding of psychotherapy. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

Extensive questions have been asked regarding the factors that influence psychotherapeutic effectiveness. Past research has addressed the methods, techniques, as well as the client and therapist variables which potentially influence psychotherapeutic effectiveness. The majority of the research indicates that the therapeutic relationship and other contextual variables exert the greatest influence on psychotherapy successes. This implicates the broader social context in psychotherapy processes. Language appears to be one of the primary contextual factors influencing psychotherapeutic processes and is also embedded in social discourse. Society dominant discourses appear to be based on deficit beliefs toward psychotherapy and emotional functioning. The more relevant issue concerning psychotherapeutic effectiveness therefore appears to be society's dominant discourses affecting the profession. Collaborative social discourses embracing psychology are seldom integrated into mainstream public discourse. A post-modern, ecosystemic perspective is applied to these concerns, proposing a collaborative approach to social discourse, psychotherapy and research. This utilizes reflective, multi-dimensional, respectful and nonjudgmental values, reflecting the shift in social paradigms from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge Age. This shift recognizes that cultural, social and language variables appear to have a greater impact on psychotherapeutic effectiveness than most therapeutic techniques or interventions. These discourses are explored and recommendations are made in an attempt to align psychotherapy with a shifting social paradigm. This alignment could enhance psychotherapeutic effectiveness and the general understanding of psychotherapy. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)